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Comment Re:Good (Score 1) 128

Don't know much about college today but I got my masters degree in CS in 1972. I'm 80 years old and retired after 40 years as software engineer starting with IBM and later full time consulting. In school there was almost no programming involved as actual computer time too was costly to run bug-ridden student jobs. Instead we were taught algorithms with Knuth, studied Turing machines, calculating with boolean logic, operating systems and database systems. Over my career I learned and unlearned many programming languages like Fortran, Cobol, ADA, Basic and more obscure ones like Lisp, Jovial and Simula. I've programed in assembly for Motorola, Intel, IBM and long forgotten machines like Burroughs, DEC and Data General. I've even worked with a 18bit 1's complement machine. What my experience tells me is that coding is a mechanical task readily automated. What counts is the ability to develop software requirement that are complete, consistent and realizable requirements, no easy task. The old cliche is that you go to college not to learn a skill but how to think. So I'm in the math camp perhaps adding algorithms and a little computer architecture. But what do I know about today's employment market.

Comment Utter nonsense (Score 1) 237

Writing code is least important task of a software engineer. My job comprises deciding what the software should do, how should it do it and how can it be verified that it works as specified. In addition there are tradeoffs of time, space, and speed, cost to be analyzed. If I do my part correctly the coding is essentially a mechanical task to be done by AI.

Comment Objective evidence (Score 1) 58

I'm amazed at how many commentators imagine how well or badly AI might work in this environment without any objective evidence. Let's some testing before jumping to conclusions. AI does not have to be perfect whatever that means in practice just good enough to be justified by speed and cost savings. Of course we now have a problem of who evaluates the test results.

Comment misunderstood governemt (Score 1) 189

You completely miss the purpose of government. I can hardly do better than to quote the US Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." However if you insists on government as a service provider we have off the top of my head: defense from enemies both domestic and foreign, infrastructure (roads, dams, water, airports), courts for business disputes (patents, labor issues, contract enforcement), technology research and development (note the internet was created by the government agency DARPA), libraries and universities supplying educated STEM employees as well as free primary schooling for their children.

Comment variable data (Score 1) 302

It is characteristic of ethics is that views change over time and place making snapshots at a particular time and place lack stability.. For example very few would think homosexuality let alone gay marriage moral in 1924 and many thought slavery was moral in 1824. No one knows what ethical standards will be in 2054.

Comment Talk about touchy feely (Score 2) 61

I see no objective reason why electronic devices can not perform all neural activities. If you want to claim humans haves souls or existence somehow above or beyond the physical you should do so openly rather than make touchy feely comments. To me this is reminiscence of the time when creating organic compounds were thought to be beyond human capability.

Comment Classic news reporting (Score 1) 155

No newspaper will ever publish a story that says no corruption in the mayors office or the power grid is stable. So the only stories we see about problems. A corollary to this is that there is no danger of EV's overloading the power grid. What happens is that utility companies always need excuses to raise rates which, to be fair, is partially invested but also used for private jet travel to Paris for conferences on how to raise rates .

Comment Corollary (Score 1) 82

A corollary is that both Jim Cramer of CNBC and Larry Kudlow of FBN are well known for being nearly always wrong in their recommendations and predictions. I don't know if this is due to faulty data or bad analysis or even a negative feedback loop with gullible viewers.

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